The Milwaukee Bucks’ recent visit to Philadelphia was rather a disappointing one. They ended up losing the game to a short-handed Sixers team, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had a poor outing. He particularly struggled from the free throw line (4-15), and he wanted to remedy that by staying on the court after the game and getting up a few shots.
But then this lead to an altercation between the ‘Greek Freak’ and Sixers big man Montrezl Harrell who wouldn’t let him shoot. In uncharacteristic behavior, the star also got into it with the arena staff, after they put a ladder in front of the basket.
Giannis later apologized for the incident and said that it was not the right behavior on his part. But the Bucks superstar got support from a lot of people, including former NBA player Chandler Parsons, who called out Harrell for his behavior.
Chandler Parsons supports Giannis amid bust-up
Former NBA player Chandler Parsons reacted to the whole incident and came to the defense of the Bucks star:
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“I adore Giannis’ feistiness. He has never appeared in such a manner before. I’ve never noticed any unfavorable coverage of him in the media. Montrezl Harrell is being really pathetic with this. I got it. Giannis plays this character. He was sent here for this reason. He is the team’s tough man. But each team acts in that way,” Parsons explained.
Parsons was impressed by Giannis’ tenacity and tentativeness. Giannis tried to be humble and nice, even offering Harrel to shoot with him. But when things went south, Antetokounmpo stood his ground, which led to a verbal interaction with the Sixers’ big man and a “ladder incident” with the arena staff.
What went down after the game?
Giannis had a tough outing against the 76ers, as he went 4-15 from the charity stripe. The Bucks lost by 8 points, and Giannis cost them the game. So like any star, Giannis went out to work on his free throws after the game. But he did not account for the fact that he was in an opponent’s building.
Despite that, Giannis took a couple of balls and started working on his free throws. After a while, Harrell made his way to the court, took the ball, and asked Giannis to leave. He said that this was not Milwaukee, requesting that he should leave.
Giannis asked for the ball back multiple times, but Harrell was not ready to listen. So he went and got a few more balls. This time, an arena worker had put a ladder in front of the basket. Giannis asked the worker to move the ladder, but he refused. A frustrated Giannis pushed the ladder out of the way, and it came tumbling down.
It looked bad at first, but after hearing the whole story and the context behind it, people gave Giannis the benefit of the doubt. Despite not getting too much hate or criticism, Antetokounmpo apologized and expressed that it was never his intention to hurt anyone.
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